Olympia Snowe

Olympia Jean Bouchles Snowe (born February 21, 1947 in Augusta, Maine) is a Republican politician and, as of 2005, the senior United States senator from Maine.

"The Gang of 14"

On May 23, 2005, Snowe was one of fourteen moderate senators, known as the Gang of 14, to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the filibuster on judicial nominees. This action both curtailed the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called "nuclear option", and broke Democrat opposition to three nominees brought to the Senate floor. The compromise precludes further filibusters and the implementation of the nuclear option for as long as the Gang of 14 holds together.

Related Topics:
Gang of 14 - Filibuster - Nuclear option

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Under the agreement, the Democrats retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and the three most conservative Bush appellate court nominees, (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor), receive an up-or-down simple majority vote by the full Senate.

Related Topics:
Appellate court - Janice Rogers Brown - Priscilla Owen - William Pryor

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This deal has been strongly criticized by both Democratic and Republican partisans but, for the time being, the forging of this compromise has radically changed the center of gravity in the Senate towards moderates like Snowe. Another compromiser, Lindsey Graham (R-SC), has already suggested that the centrists attempt to find common ground on the difficult issue of Social Security reform, an issue on which both Snowe and Graham have signalled their dissent from the plans of President George W. Bush.

Related Topics:
Lindsey Graham - George W. Bush

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